Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

17 reviews

a_l_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

personal review notes:


C 7/10
A 8/10
W 5/10
P 5/10
I 4/10
L 7/10
E 5/10

-> 5.1/10
-> 3 stars

  • C: the characters were super adorable and diverse, i liked how they were described, i didn' really felt connected though & i personally don't really vibe with linus 
  • W: some feelings and situations felt over-explained, sometimes it left way too hopeful und overly positive, especially towards the end i sometimes cringed at some of the dialogues and writing
  • P: the second half the story kinda dragged on, the over all outcome was very foreseeable 
  • I: at first, i couldn't put it down and towards the end the only motivation to read was to get this book done. 
  • E: in the beginning i really enjoyed it, was alright over all, glad that i read it, wouldn't read again

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chelle22's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted

5.0


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adalinemccormick's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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merlioras's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A nice story with a warm feel to it. The message was at points quite heavy handed and more text than subtext. I didn't care for the fatphobia against the protagonist that was brought up unnecessarily again and again by both him and the narrative voice. 
I listened to the book. At first I had to get used  to the voice actor but having finished the book I think he's a good fit for the protagonist and also has distinct voices for the cast of characters. He did a good job. What sometimes threw me off was how he pronounced certain words. I don't know if that is some kind of accent but I never had heard them pronounced that way. It made it appear as if he has never encountered these words before and didn't bother to check the pronunciation. 

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mixmousereads's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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tippettreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Read For:
Fantasy
Slow Burn
Found Family
Idiots in Love
Happy Ending

Think Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children vibes but kinda queer.  I just felt kinda neutral about it.  The humor was okay, the characters were okay, and the setting was kinda meh.  I just felt like I had to force myself to keep reading and if I didn’t already own the book I would have stopped.  Also, I thought there would be more queer rep to be honest so that was kinda disappointing.  Not to mention the fatphobia.

I wasn’t going to read this given the reviews I’ve been seeing recently, however, I already own the first two books so I figured I’d see if it was as bad as some of the reviews were saying.  And honestly, I just didn’t understand the hype about it.  Even not knowing what the book was based on it was barely a 3-star rating for me, it just fell flat to me.

However, learning that this was based on the Sixties Scoop and how the author decided to turn what was a cruel and tragic piece of history he read about on Wikipedia about how the Canadian government removed a bunch of indigenous children from their literal homes and away from their family only to be adopted to white, middle-class families and he then took that information and basically turned it into a happy little fantasy where the kids live not in an “orphanage” but a “home” like, dude, why?

This kind of thing is still something native people are dealing with and as a white person, it should not be something you’re involved in like this.  In America the Supreme Court literally is going to be voting soon on overturning ICWA so states can regain control to remove Native children from their homes and families, this isn’t just some fantasy.  This story could have been written way better and in a way that did romanticize trauma and make light of a literal genocide.

I just wouldn’t recommend this one.  There are some links on where I got my information from if you’re interested along with two reviews I think do a better job of explaining this than I did.

Links:


Source: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617930246/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=bookmark-ITBC&xid=0efbabda

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixties_Scoop

Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032060130

Another Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3601407534


Rep: Achillean, Queer MC

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kaimetcalfe's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0


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caitlinjadams's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What a lovely, lovely book about humanity. 

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lonely_tardigrade's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

this book genuinely felt like a warm hug. it was the first book i’ve finished in probably a year or more. the vibes it gave off (not content) felt like the vibes of watching the owl house. a wholesome story with a bit of danger. and the characters are all so unique and lovable in their own ways.

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